In it, McCollum insisted that she is “not a bad person” for trying to smuggle 24lb of cocaine from Lima to Spain in August 2013.

And this evening she appealed, through her lawyer, for her and her family to be left alone.

In a statement, KRW Law, said: “Michaella has served two years and three months of her sentence and was released under a newly-introduced parole scheme for foreign nationals.

“The next stage of the process requires her to appear before a judicial authority when she will learn further details about her conditions of parole and critically when she is eligible to return home.

“On Sunday night she participated in a broadcast with RTE and gave her first interview since release.

“There was no payment made to her to do so. Michaella chose to do this interview with RTE because it is Ireland’s Public Service Broadcaster.

“In that interview she articulated her position very clearly and unequivocally.

“In the circumstances, both she and her family take the view that taking part in further interviews will not serve any purpose at this stage.

“They have asked that the media give them space and privacy to allow the next stages of the parole process to work through.

“In stating this, they recognise fully the public interest in the story of Michaella’s arrest, imprisonment and release on parole.”

The law firm claimed legal proceedings are set to be issued against one newspaper following an alleged altercation with McCollum and her family in recent days.

McCollum and Melissa Reid, from Scotland, were imprisoned in 2013 for six years and eight months after being caught with the haul at Lima Airport on August 6 2013 attempting to fly to Spain.

In her first interview since she left prison, she said: “I could have potentially killed a lot of people, not directly but I could have caused a lot of harm to people.

“I don’t think that guilt is ever going to go away because how could I forgive myself for doing that.

“If the drugs had of got back what could have happened, I probably would have had a lot of blood on my hands ..The amount of families that would have ruined.. I did that, I caused destruction to society and who am I to be able to do that?”